As the caliph Umar is supposed to have said when ordering the library of Alexandria to be burned: "If the books agree with the Qur'an, they are superfluous. If they disagree with it, they are heretical."
Sharia Alert from the Horn of Africa: "Somali Islamist rebels ban English, science lessons," by Sahra Abdi for Reuters, March 5 (thanks to Twostellas):
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Somalia's hardline Islamists have banned English and science studies in schools in the southern Afmadow town after the education centers there ignored the rebels' call for fighters, residents and teachers say.World
Residents of the town near the border with Kenya said three schools had been given one month to comply with the order by al Shabaab rebels and switch the curriculum to accommodate Arabic and Islamic studies.
"They asked us to contribute students to their militia so that they can fight for them, but we rejected their proposal," said one teacher who wanted to remain anonymous.
Al Shabaab, which Washington says is al Qaeda's proxy in the failed Horn of Africa state, wants to topple Somalia's U.N.-backed government and impose its own strict version of sharia, Islamic law.
The heavily armed group controls much of the south and parts of the capital Mogadishu, and courts run by its clerics have ordered executions, floggings and amputations.
It has also banned movies, dancing at wedding ceremonies and playing or watching soccer in the areas under its control.
Elders said the al Shabaab militia shut down Waamo, Dhoobaale and Osman Mohamud schools briefly Sunday, before slapping the ban on English, which they called a "spy language."
"The Islamic administration closed education centers and ordered them to stop teaching English which they said is a western language," Ali Mowlid Mohamud, clan elder in Afmadow, told Reuters by phone.
"They told schools, 'We know everyone who is going to be a spy for western governments learns this language.'"...
"As the caliph Umar is supposed to have said when ordering the library of Alexandria to be burned: "If the books agree with the Qur'an, they are superfluous. If they disagree with it, they are heretical."
Whoa, that's the first I've heard of that one. So, the Mohammedans have been "Farenheit 451" firemen since the get-go.
Why am I not surprised? Just look at how much "learning" has come out of Islam!!! Wha'd Mo say about the setting sun? That it sets "in a mud puddle?" lol, good one, Mo - you certainly are a "Prophet" as real and true Prophets should know the answer to those things!
Hmmm, shutting down Science Courses. They don't want students to know that it is anything but the 7th century on the flat earth which is centered on islam. BTW, the sun rotates around the flat earth as do all the other 5 planets. The moon is the home of allah and man has never ever set foot there. HA HA HA .. what a load of bovine deficant. Those people are beyond stupid now-adays.
CC
According to Islamic theology the laws of science do not exist. Everything that happens is caused by the arbitrary will of Allah. There are no regularities in the universe, and to argue otherwise is heretical.
Even the Kansas Board of Education isn't that irrational. No wonder Muslims are so backward and primitive: http://crombouke.blogspot.com/2010/01/islamic-irrationalism-and-anti.html
Reuters says al Shabaab fired 23 teachers for not having an Arabic education background.
this is news ?? -- Sharia law is based on Arab and Islamic studies.
You know that old saying - "Where there's science, there's infidels."
"They asked us to contribute students to their militia so that they can fight for them, but we rejected their proposal," said one teacher who wanted to remain anonymous.
....................
Al Shabab was punishing this school because it would not willingly supply the Jihadists with Islamic cannon fodder.
' 'The Islamic administration closed education centers and ordered them to stop teaching English which they said is a western language,' Ali Mowlid Mohamud, clan elder in Afmadow, told Reuters by phone."
This highlights the effrontery of such elitist Euro-politicians as the Dutch Frans Timmermans (ably dealt to by Hugh recently) when they rattle on about the West’s supposed fear of “the other”. For heaven’s sake, the Koran is the pre-eminent teaching resource manual for fear and loathing of “the other”.
Re Robert’s quote on the Alexandria library, a recent book by Rebecca Knuth “Burning Books and Leveling Libraries” has some very useful material on Islam’s role in biblioclasm, in particular by the Taliban. For example:
“Jihad also extended to the cultural artifacts of enemies... they [the Taliban] sought out texts in non-Pashtun languages, especially Persian materials. Persian materials were deemed particularly offensive and deserving of destruction because Persian was the language of poetry and philosophy, and the Taliban believed that only religious texts should have status... Persian texts bore witness to a glorious pre-Islamic history, a secular identification that looked to a multicultural, cosmopolitan past rather than confining itself to the era of the prophet that inspired the Taliban.... The Taliban wanted to eliminate all texts that competed with Koran; the central belief system was to be purged of complexity and multiculturalism. The Taliban conducted house-to-house searches for banned books, and families pre-emptively burned their personal collections...
“[The Kabul library’s] rich collections defied their narrow fundamentalism; it was a secular haven, a center for humanism, learning, and scholarly endeavours that linked Afghanis with the outside world. After the conquest of Pol-e-Khomri in 1998 [to where the Kabul library had been relocated], the Taliban drove up in Toyota 4x4 trucks, fired rocket launchers through the doors, and machine-gunned the videorecording studio and printing presses. The soldiers’ eagerness to damage the center quickly degenerated into a frenzy of destruction, in which rockets were launched into the stacks; statues and artifacts smashed; and books were torn apart, stomped on, and removed and thrown into an adjacent river. Eventually, not a single book was left.” (pp.147-148)
These people are hell bent on returning to the stone age as quickly as possible.
"These people are hell bent on returning to the stone age as quickly as possible."
Yes, but they'll want to take their laptops that the West invented, with them.
I see the Taliban's banning of the teaching of science as a good thing. Without knowledge of basic science, more advanced subjects, such as chemical engineering, electrical engineering, and weapons technology, cannot be pursued; areas of study to which Muslims gravitate, in significant numbers, in order to further jihad and the spread of Islam. In banning science, the Taliban are undermining this goal. Without science, there cannot be technology, and this is good for us infidels - very good indeed. Without science, these Muslims will have to resort to seventh century warfare, fighting with spears and rocks. So much the better for us. We should, in this case, actually support the Taliban - let us do all we can to discourage Muslims from studying the sciences, which we should present as haraam, nearly entirely from the domain of infidels. In fact, we should try to convince Muslims that Allah frowns upon science, because it is based upon the premise that there are natural laws that can be studied, identified, and from which predictions can be made, which suggests, as the Jews say (according to the Qur'an) that "Allah's hand is chained."
Eliminate science, and you weaken the mujahid's ability to wage holy war against us.
Ah so ignorance is now mandatory there. I wonder how many caves they have there for those who would emulate Mohamed.
They don't know much about science, but they're little gems in technology.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0GmrBeCgcAY at 9:20 :-)
English is only allowed when they have to read weapon user manuals or for a ransom demand or when ordering parts for pirates' skiffs. So English isn't entirely redundant in Somalia.
Gordon Brown gave the Somalian president £5million yesterday to help combat terrorism since much of the internationally pledged money hasn't arrived. I hope that the strings attached to this gift included the release of the elderly British couple who have been held hostage by Somalian pirates for several months and are reported as being in bad shape.
MBR: Thanks for the Diana Krall link. I didn't realize that she's a terrific pianist as well as a fine vocalist. Anyway, the song is indeed apposite.
The Somali Islamists have recently adopted a new theme song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KTFoMJi3uE
Wait - isn't music haram in Islam?
How sad, this are the same people getting lap dances from Somali women, eating Khat and getting paid to shout Allah Akbar and fire their AK's.
How fucking sad. The name Islam is going deep into DOG's SHIT. Giving a fucked up religion a more fucked up resume.